Wender·Vista
Lascaux
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileFrance
above the Vézère valley in the Dordogne

Lascaux

— — a room of painted animals, kept in the dark.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Four teenagers and a dog found the entrance in September 1940, looking for a lost terrier in a sinkhole above Montignac. Inside were aurochs, horses, and stags painted by hand seventeen thousand years ago. The real cave has been closed since 1963 to keep the paintings from breath and lamp-warmth. What visitors see now is Lascaux IV, a careful replica down the hill. The animals on the walls are the same shape, the same gesture, the same low ochre light. from the studio

from the studio
Lascaux
— bring it home

Lascaux, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Lascaux

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Lascaux is a complex of caves on a wooded hillside above the Vézère valley, in the commune of Montignac in the Dordogne department of southwestern France. The painted galleries run roughly 250 metres back from the original entrance and were carved out of Jurassic limestone. The site is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, inscribed in 1979, which gathers fifteen Paleolithic decorated caves and twenty-five archaeological sites along about forty kilometres of the river.

— the year

The paintings are dated to the Upper Paleolithic, roughly 17,000 years old, attributed to the Magdalenian or late Solutrean culture. The cave was found on 12 September 1940 by Marcel Ravidat, his dog Robot, and three friends who entered through a sinkhole opened by a fallen pine. It opened to the public in 1948. By the late 1950s carbon dioxide from visitors, condensation, and algae had begun to damage the pigments, and the cave was closed on 20 April 1963 by order of culture minister André Malraux.

— informed by Wikipedia — Lascaux
— the visit

The original cave is permanently closed. Visitors today go to Lascaux IV, the International Centre for Cave Art, which opened in December 2016 at the foot of the Lascaux hill and reproduces the entire painted cave at full scale using a 3D scan of the original walls. Earlier replicas include Lascaux II, opened in 1983 and reproducing the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery. Booking ahead is advised in summer; guided tours run in several languages and last about an hour.

— where
France · Montignac, Dordogne
— elevation
185 m · 607 ft
— position
45.0533° N · 1.1719° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
2 km N
Montignac
market town on the Vézère
25 km SW
Font-de-Gaume
decorated cave
28 km SW
Les Eyzies
prehistory village
N
Lascaux
Montignac
Font-de-Gaume
Les Eyzies
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Lascaux — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Lascaux is a cave above the Vézère valley, in the commune of Montignac in the Dordogne department of southwestern France. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.

The paintings are dated to roughly 17,000 years old, made in the Upper Paleolithic and attributed to the Magdalenian or late Solutrean culture. They include aurochs, horses, stags, and a small number of human and abstract figures.

It was found on 12 September 1940 by Marcel Ravidat, an eighteen-year-old apprentice, his dog Robot, and three friends. They entered through a sinkhole opened by a fallen pine on the hill above Montignac.

It closed on 20 April 1963. Carbon dioxide, body heat, and humidity from heavy visitor traffic in the 1950s damaged the pigments and encouraged algae and calcite growth. Access is now limited to a small number of conservation specialists.

Lascaux IV is the International Centre for Cave Art, opened in December 2016 at the foot of the Lascaux hill. It reproduces the entire painted cave at full scale using a 3D scan of the original and is the main visitor site today.

The Hall of the Bulls is the first chamber inside the cave and the most-photographed. It holds four large black aurochs, the longest about 5.2 metres, painted with red and yellow horses and stags around them.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for archaeology students, art historians, and travellers who have walked the Vézère caves. A Small or Medium with a note from the studio carries well.

The ochre, charcoal, and limestone palette reads well with French farmhouse, warm minimalist, and study-room interiors. It pairs cleanly with old oak, leather, and unbleached linen.

Yes. The warm earth-tone direction leans on ochre, terracotta, and bone against quiet walls. The tile gives that palette its single anchoring image.

Above a standard sofa the single Large reads well at eye-line. Above a long console or in an open entry, a 4-tile Mural carries the room. The 9-tile Mural is built for a feature wall.

Yes. Choose the Dura Satin finish for showers and backsplashes, or the Matte finish for a softer kitchen wall. Both are scratch-resistant and hold up to humidity.

A soft microfibre cloth with water is enough for ordinary dust and fingerprints. For a kitchen install, a mild dish soap on the cloth is fine. No abrasives.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is painted in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language and slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure. No licensing, no third-party stock.

— if this one stayed with you

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